Today crowds gathered at the docks in Belfast to 'commemorate' and 'laud' the 100th Anniversary of the launch of the Titanic. If this ship had been built in Japan or South Korea the fact that it sunk on it's maiden voyage would still be considered a national shame and embarrassment. In the Far East the shipyard bosses would have literally fallen on their swords but in the North is it celebrated; what a farce. All this Titanic nonsense is just an ego trip for rich, awfully nice, bored, blue rinse brigade North Down housewives with nothing better to do and wealthy retired executives looking for a hobby. The amount of public money that has been wasted on this load of baloney is shameful.

Ulsterman (Antrim) - Posts: 9819 - 31/05/2011 18:29:04    944778

would you be happier if instead of a titanic quarter the money was spent on higher walls on the peaceline ?

ruanua (Donegal) - Posts: 4966 - 31/05/2011 18:51:50    944801

To be honest yes rua, it would give the people on both sides of these walls and gates more peace of mind. There are cross community schemes closing down left, right and centre in the North because of 'funding' issues yet this Titanic rubbish seems to be able to get public money from everywhere. It is a ego massaging quango nonsense for the middle classes in North Down and Malone Road. They are getting millions for their wee hobby...........and the bloody thing sank! Furthermore the sectarian aspect has been completely ignored, the elephant in the room. The Belfast shipyard was a byword for anti-Catholic hatred and bigotry. My own grandfather was from the Docks area and said that the grass would grow over the shipyard one day. How right he was!

Ulsterman (Antrim) - Posts: 9819 - 31/05/2011 19:08:41    944818

I have always been very interested in the titanic story.

but it has been proved lately that the quality of steel or was it iron rivits they uesd? - was poor and the ship was doomed from design stage.

yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 11647 - 31/05/2011 19:13:57    944829

As I said my grandparents were from the Docks area of Belfast and lived through the sectarian pogroms of the 20's and 30's I remember my granda tellling us that the few Catholics that were in the shipyard saying that anti-Catholic/anti Papal graffitti was written all over the steel plates when they were being rivetted into place on the Titanic. It came as no surprise he said that the iceburg hit the steel plates of the hull and many Catholics in and around the Docks area firmly believed that it was an Act of God and divine intervention. That is a true story.

Ulsterman (Antrim) - Posts: 9819 - 31/05/2011 19:24:34    944835

It's pathetic and a tragic waste of public funds at a time when schools and hospitals are under threat of closure. It's a very sad attempt at finding a cultural identity or 'national' icon for the north which 'we' can all be proud.

The shipyard was a hate filled cesspit which we're far better off without, we'd be better served forgetting about it rather than trying to paint it as a golden age.

artisan (Down) - Posts: 1794 - 31/05/2011 19:47:29    944859

To be honest I wouldn't know enough about the history or the geograhpy to have a definitive view
I would have assumed that regeneration and changing the dynamics of an area into something that becomes more attractive to a non native
even if that is a south down blue rinse brigade is a positive.
Most cities in the world have had to redevelop their dockland areas - Areas that were prosperous in past decades but in the seventies and eighties became a backdrop of urban decay - In belfat i'm sure this became even more apparent given the political climate and as stated above the sectarian dynamics of the workforce.

The regeneration can include yuppified flats - and sprawling blocks of solictors and accountants offices and/or a more positive mix of theatres/concert venues
and where relevant some form of tourist attraction with the restaurants bars and nightlife that brings with it.

In summary every city has had to redevelop its old dockland quarter - I would have thought Belfast would need to do this more than most.

ruanua (Donegal) - Posts: 4966 - 31/05/2011 20:27:15    944892

TITANIC AND DMC company Belfast finest NOT! Why do people from Belfast seem to think thank Building a ship called the unsinkable only to sink faster than the speed of light and to somehow claim that the DeLorean DMC-12 motorcar was up there with a Ferrari only to find out that a Heinz Baked bean can was better put together is embarrassing , Belfast has some fine achievements Kenneth Branagh, actor/director, James Galway, musician Gary Moore, musician,
blues and rock guitarist John Boyd Dunlop, inventor and veterinary surgeon
Jocelyn Bell Burnell, astronomer Mary McAleese, President of Ireland Mairead Corrigan, Nobel Laureate Betty Williams, Nobel Laureate
Professor Francis "Frank" Pantridge technically not born in belfast but Hillsborough but work his life though Queens and the RVH HENRY GEORGE (HARRY) FERGUSON another co Down man who set up in Belfast and became know all over the world as the man who invented the Tractor.

fortyfive (Tyrone) - Posts: 5929 - 31/05/2011 21:11:25    944917

The Titanic is a very interesting story. It gets sunk in the end.

N16Calling (UK) - Posts: 260 - 31/05/2011 21:27:05    944925

Its a story that is known all over the world - famous or infamous it is known and therefore I would think an excellent choice if a theme for tourism or regeneration is what is needed

Alcatraz
Austhwichz
Ground Zero
Devils Island
Jack the Ripper tours of London
Guillotine themed tours of paris
Amsterdams Red Light District
Checkpoint Charlie


Im sure there are more positive things to see in all of the above areas but not as many well known

ruanua (Donegal) - Posts: 4966 - 31/05/2011 21:42:28    944946

Its a bit Irish to celebrate something failing. Rather cringeworthy actually.

Sergeant_Slash (Cavan) - Posts: 2182 - 31/05/2011 21:51:49    944961

Ruanua take it from me, I know more about Poland and the Poles, than anyone on here. They are not happy with Aushwitcz being used as some sort of morbid terror tourism destination. It has been foisted upon them by Israelis/Jewish people and any time them mention flattening the place they are branded anti-semites. The world also forgets that thousands upon thousands of Polish men, women and children were killed there by the Germans as a certain group seems to have a monopoly on victimhood from the terrible things that happened there.

CheFinny (UK) - Posts: 1358 - 01/06/2011 08:33:10    944979

link

Interesting little article about it in todays Times

bad.monkey (USA) - Posts: 4649 - 01/06/2011 08:37:46    944982

A load of "oul nonsense".They could just call the area the "Belfast Docklands",or some other equally sterile and inoffensive name.

seanie_boy (Tyrone) - Posts: 4235 - 01/06/2011 09:11:34    944995

Have to agree with some of the points RuaNua has made on this one. The Titanic story is known the world over over and therefore it is the perfect brand for regenerating an underdeveloped area. The sectarianism of the shipyards is a dark chapter which is sometimes glossed over however it shouldnt be allowed to hold back progress.

Also looking at it on a more positive slant one could say only the Irish could make a success out of a ship that sank!

Goodfella, Tir (None) - Posts: 1652 - 01/06/2011 09:51:48    945031

Ulsterman
County: Antrim
Posts: 3647

944778 Today crowds gathered at the docks in Belfast to 'commemorate' and 'laud' the 100th Anniversary of the launch of the Titanic. If this ship had been built in Japan or South Korea the fact that it sunk on it's maiden voyage would still be considered a national shame and embarrassment. In the Far East the shipyard bosses would have literally fallen on their swords but in the North is it celebrated; what a farce. All this Titanic nonsense is just an ego trip for rich, awfully nice, bored, blue rinse brigade North Down housewives with nothing better to do and wealthy retired executives looking for a hobby. The amount of public money that has been wasted on this load of baloney is shameful.


--------------------------------------

do you commemorate the 1916 rising, the hunger strikes etc. all epic failures. why dont you just tell the truth your post has nothing got to do with the titanic its got to do with the religion of those who built it and your pathetic attempt as oneupmanship- sad sad sad!

liathroidboy (Mayo) - Posts: 4921 - 01/06/2011 10:45:28    945090

The last thing from East Belfast to sink without a trace was Iris Robinson .

fortyfive (Tyrone) - Posts: 5929 - 01/06/2011 10:52:28    945096

Have to agree with you Ulsterman, this strange obsession (mostly a Belfast thing IMHO) with the Titanic is ludicrous! When the space shuttle Columbia exploded did the city that built it say come and visit us, don't think so. Strange strange obsession.

sean og (Armagh) - Posts: 1073 - 01/06/2011 12:04:18    945181

Ulsterman

As I said my grandparents were from the Docks area of Belfast and lived through the sectarian pogroms of the 20's and 30's I remember my granda tellling us that the few Catholics that were in the shipyard saying that anti-Catholic/anti Papal graffitti was written all over the steel plates when they were being rivetted into place on the Titanic. It came as no surprise he said that the iceburg hit the steel plates of the hull and many Catholics in and around the Docks area firmly believed that it was an Act of God and divine intervention. That is a true story.

Strange that........ did the purges of Catholics from the ship-building yards not take place in the 1920s? (10 years after the Titanic was built).

When I saw a thread entitled "How embarrassing is this nonsense?" I assumed it was just referring to the majority of your posts.

black&white (Sligo) - Posts: 1628 - 01/06/2011 12:20:57    945198

Whatever about the awful discrimination against catholics not being allowed to work in the shipyards......the story of titanic should be celebrated. if the ship never sunk it would have been sold off for scrap metal sometime in the 50's and we all would would't be talking about it today.

The ships "unsinkable" - now known design faults, lack of lifeboats, near miss with a ship in southampton which would have prevented sailing, captian smith lighting the last boilers to speed up, the crows nets binoculars looked away with the key left behind, the calm still night, 345 of the richest people on earth on board, the dancing, the iceberg, the third class people locked below, women refusing to leave their husbands, the bravery by many on baord and the coward owners who took his place in a lifeboat.

It all sums up as a tragic human story and it still echoes throughout folk culture especially in belfast and if tourists flock to see the docks then all the better.

yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 11647 - 01/06/2011 19:31:17    945778